"The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame." Oscar WildeAs Banned Books Week draws to a close I am left in a state of emotional unrest. In other words, I'm pissed off.
I love books. I have no idea what would happen to me if written words were taken away. Last night I was doing some research on banned books on the American Library Association's website and this morning I woke up at 5:28am frustrated and upset. There were two sets of statistics posted that stuck in my head.
The first:
And the second:
Most banned books are challenged by parents for being sexually explicit. I've read most of these books. I've talked to librarians and teachers about the books their parents want pulled from my shelves. Here is what bothers me the most. Human sexuality is at the core of our experience. Without sexuality, none of us would be here (okay, maybe just the majority of us). If parents would just talk to their kids about issues surrounding sex rather than just banning the books that might help them understand sex and make smart decisions, things would be better. Just because a book has sex in it, doesn't mean it glorifies sex, encourages kids to have sex, or causes deviant behaviors.
I remember reading an article in which (one of my absolute favorite authors) John Green discusses the sex in his book Looking for Alaska. He says it best in his YouTube video discussing a movement by parents to get his book out of schools so I'm just going to let you watch it yourself...
I could go on for hours about why I think everyone should be able to read what they want to read, but for now, I think I've said what I needed to say.
Now go out and celebrate by picking up a banned book. It shouldn't be hard, most of the good ones have been banned at one point or another (including A Wrinkle in Time, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harry Potter, A Prayer for Owen Meany and on and on...)
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